About

Achilles Chef's Knife - Placing a legend in your hands

€125,257

pledged of €8,000 goal

868

backers

What is a prototype?

A prototype is a preliminary model of something. Projects that offer physical products need to show backers documentation of a working prototype. This gallery features photos, videos, and other visual documentation that will give backers a sense of what’s been accomplished so far and what’s left to do. Though the development process can vary for each project, these are the stages we typically see:

Proof of Concept

Explorations that test ideas and functionality.

Functional Prototype

Demonstrates the functionality of the final product, but looks different.

Appearance Prototype

Looks like the final product, but is not functional.

Design Prototype

Appearance and function match the final product, but is made with different manufacturing methods.

Production Prototype

Appearance, function, and manufacturing methods match the final product.

Prototype Gallery

These photos and videos provide a detailed look at this project’s development.

A chef’s most important tool is his knife, that’s why we’ve created an outstanding and unique design that opens a new era for kitchen knives. The Achilles knife set features a uniquely designed handle that fits perfectly into your hand and provides the best possible grip, even if you hands, or the knife itself are wet.

After several years of development, testing, adaptations and makeovers we are able to bring a truly remarkable Chef’s Knife to you. Because of our years of testing, our company is able to bring you a truly special knife that is of pinnacle of quality, design, usability, durability and sharpness. For us launching this campaign is a very, very special moment, because of the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that were involved in the process of bringing this unique knife into being.

Sternsteiger Achilles

But now let's put an end to this chit-chat and get back to the beginning of the story.

We want to welcome you to Achilles, the result of a truly remarkable journey by a young German knife making company.

A gourmet chefs views about Achilles:

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Here are some impressions of what other people are saying about Achilles:

And we are proud to have been featured by:

And this is what our customers and backers say about our products:

Our unique combination of features won the Achilles knife the German Design Award for 2018 for “Excellent Product Design - Kitchen“. This is something our team is really proud of and wanted to share with the Kickstarter community. In addition, the German Design Award the unique design of Achilles is now patented.

The CEO of Sternsteiger at the German Design Award 2018 award ceremony

The Blade

The blade of Achilles is formed like a traditional western all-purpose Chef’s knife. It is ideal for all kinds of chopping, slicing, and dicing.

The Handle

The Achilles handle is uniquely shaped and fits perfectly into your hand to provide the best possible grip even if your hands or the knife itself is wet.

The most noticeable feature of Achilles is the hole in its handle. It is a point that provides balance and grip to the knife. The hole sits at the knives point of balance and allows you to put a finger into it for optimal pressure distribution while cutting.

Technical specifications:

Blade characteristic: Western Chef's knife

Blade length: 8" inch / 20 cm

Steel: Krebs Solingen Company 1.4116(W-Nr), German Stainless Steel

Liquid nitrogen treated blade

Hardness: 54-59HRC

Sharpening: Solinger Dünschliff

Nano-Coated for enhanced durability and reliability

The weight of the Chef's Knife lies between 315 - 335 g, this is due to the knife being individually forged and treated.

The Achilles Chef Knife In Action:

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The full Achilles knife series

Mid last year, we came up with the idea to develop a paring knife and a bread knife based on the Achilles design so we could offer you all a full Achilles series!

The Paring Knife

Achilles Paring Knife

The paring knife is exactly like the Chef’s knife only smaller. This knife follows the basic design of a Chef’s knife and is ideal for peeling vegetables, cutting fruits and anything else you can think of you would need a smaller knife in your kitchen for.

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Technical specifications paring knife:

Blade characteristic: Western Chef's knife

Blade length: 3.5" inch / 9 cm

Steel: Krebs Solingen Company 1.4116(W-Nr), German Stainless Steel

Liquid nitrogen treated blade Hardness: 54-59HRC

Sharpening: Solinger Dünschliff

Nano-Coated for enhanced durability and reliability

The weight of the paring knife is about 85g

The Bread Knife

Achilles Bread Knife

The bread knife does what the name already tells you, it is ideal for slicing bread and well...it just works well!

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Technical specifications bread knife:

Blady\e characteristic: Western Chef's knife

Blade length: 8" / 20,5 cm

Steel: Krebs Solingen Company 1.4116(W-Nr), German Stainless Steel

Liquid nitrogen treated blade Hardness: 54-59HRC

Sharpening: Solinger Dünschliff

Nano-Coated for enhanced durability and reliability

The weight of the paring knife is about 195g

The Achilles knife series

One of our Damascus series knives

Since our company was created, we wanted to create a unique knife that reflects the spirit and values of our company. It was only after we teamed up with a talented designer that had his own experiences with knives in the area of gastronomy, that we finally figured out what kind of knife we wanted to create.

One of our early 3D prints

Our knife had to be durable, practical for professionals and it had to be elegant.

The designer working on a design variation

We played around with several designs, talked with several professional chef’s and collected their feedback. The result was the idea of creating a knife completely out of metal, no wood or rough textures that allow bacteria to grow, providing high durability and having a very premium look and feel.

Achilles has now been in development for over three years. It all started with 3D-CAD models and 3D printed samples to determine the best grip design and angles so the knife is comfortable and secure to hold for both left and right-handed people.

3D print next to a prototype

After our first design was created, we met the next challenge: how to properly make a knife out of one solid piece of metal. The picture below shows our final version next to our first prototype that consisted of two parts welded together. You can clearly see the line where blade and handle were joined together.

Final version (left), first prototype (right)

It was only in the last year, that we finally solved this problem with traditional German craftsmanship. The final design is one solid piece of durable stainless steel metal that, if treated well, will last you a lifetime.

The forging die for Achilles

Lab cutting test of Achilles

During the development period of Achilles, the knife went through several phases of lab and customer tests.

Corrosion test of Achilles in a lab

During the lab tests, Achilles was tested for long-term corrosion effects, cutting ability due to wear and tear, security and durability if it ever falls to the ground or out of your hand.

Testing sharpness by cutting ropes

Achilles in Gourmet Chef's hand

For customer testing, we selected some of our best customers to get an early glimpse of Achilles by participating in our trails. Mr. Fikret Fidan, who has been the Chef of the famous Motorsport Hotel near the „Grean Hell“ the Nürburgring Nordschleife, was very happy with the knife even from the earliest prototype. His feedback and the feedback of the other participants helped us tremendously improve Achilles to the knife that it is today.

The following video shows you the cutting ability of Achilles.

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This the part where you come in. We almost have Achilles itself ready for mass production, but we need your help to get the funds required for the tooling and the initial production run for the paring and bread knives. Help us bring the Achilles Knife set to you all by selecting your favorite reward and supporting us on our Kickstarter journey!

Achilles Knife Stand

Want to proudly show off your Achilles knives? Then this is the one for you! This uniquely designed knife block is optimized for holding the full set of Achilles knives.

Shortly after its inception, Sternsteiger moved its operational base to the world famous city of Solingen that is known as the city of blades. The city has a tradition of blade forging that is going back at least to the 14th century. This location is the mecca for both traditional and modern makers that work together as a cooperative.The first documented case of forged blades in Solingen is of 1363.

Testing of the die for Achilles in a Solingen forge

In the modern era, its close proximity to the Ruhrgebiet with its coal mines and steel fabrication was a huge advantage.Today the situation has changed, a lot of manufacturers have closed down, because of the competition from Asia and raised costs, but the core infrastructure is still there.

This is why we made the move to Solingen. We are now able to leverage hundreds of years of knowledge and combine it with state of the art technologies, procedures, and designs. The result is what you see before you today.

And now finally our project timeline:

This project would not have been possible without the help of the following people and organizations and at this point, we want to thank all of them for their hard work, time and love that they have put into this product.

Risks and challenges

As described above the Achilles chef's knife has undergone a lengthy prototype and testing period. In addition we completed a small sample production run to minimize issues during mass production and for having samples ready for the press.

For the paring knife and the bread knife its a different story, their design is based on the Chef's knife, but here we only have some samples. Doing a sample run will be the next step right after our campaign has successfully concluded, because we need the funds to pay for the required tooling.

We and our partners from Solingen are committed to deliver Achilles to your doorstep according to the specified timeline above, but as for any first mass produced product, there will be hick-ups and drawbacks.

Our team will do its best to keep you updated and informed during every stage of production and shipment.